TAS: Tasmanian man tells of rafting ordeal

AAP General News (Australia)
12-28-2001
TAS: Tasmanian man tells of rafting ordeal

HOBART, Dec 28 AAP - A man who spent a harrowing 24 hours in the wilderness after a
rafting accident on a Tasmanian river feared the worst when he saw his friend float past
clinging to a water-logged raft.

The party of five men, all aged in their 40s, were thrown from each of their rafts
on Wednesday afternoon when the treacherous Franklin River rose 2.5m after heavy rains.

Two men, each unaware that the other had made it to shore, spent the night on the river
banks in wet and windy conditions, unable to raise the alarm until yesterday afternoon
when they flagged down another rafting group which was equipped with a satellite phone.

One of the two men, Richard Romaszko, 48, today told of his ordeal which began as they
tried to manoeuvre their boats to a campsite during the 10-day trip.

But they couldn't pull in their water-logged craft because of the strength of the current.

"We just got spat out into the Franklin," Mr Romaszko told AAP.

Mr Romaszko said the last sight of his colleagues was when friend Fred Duncan swept
past him in the rapids, clinging to the back of his raft.

"I knew at that stage we had a real emergency on," Mr Romaszko said.

"Because once you're in that position, to stop in those conditions is virtually impossible
- you just keep getting swept down stream."

Mr Romaszko made it to shore and walked back up the river bank through dense scrub
for hours and eventually spent a cold night in his sleeping bag under a tarpaulin on a
rock ledge worrying about his friends.

He was finally spotted the next morning by a commercial rafting party that the ill-fated
group knew would be following a day behind them.

Shortly after, Mr Duncan, also of Tasmania, met up with the group after swimming across
the river.

Mr Duncan had been swept much further down the river and let go of his raft to spend
a chilling night huddling in leaves in his damp wet-suit.

Mr Romaszko said he thought he was hallucinating when he saw his friend running towards
the group from the opposite direction.

Guides from the professional white-water rafting company Rafting Tasmania used a satellite
telephone to call in police search and rescue and the men's three friends were found within
two hours, about two kilometres further downstream.

Mr Romaszko praised the actions of Rafting Tasmania and Tasmania Police for their calm
and efficient rescue.

The party was virtually unscathed, it was just their pride and egos that were damaged, he said.

"We feel highly embarrassed," Mr Romaszko said from his Hobart home.

"This is the first time anything like this had happened to us."

AAP svm/gfr/gmw/br

KEYWORD: RAFT

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